For a King
by Katryna Black
Summary: One day, one of us will be king. Spoilers through Ep. 9, "Pilgrimage."


**Title:** For a King  
**Fandom:** Kings  
**Word Count:** 726  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers:** Through Episode 9, "Pilgrimage"  
**Summary:** One day, one of us will be King.

* * *

It's beginning to snow when David's car reaches the palace gates. The guards, the same ones who offer a smile and a joke, are grim and refuse to meet his eye.

David blames it on the cold, tugging absently at the collar of his coat.

The prince is practically falling down the steps as David steps from his car. He smiles for Jack just before Jack's hand collides with his shoulder.

"Get back in the car," Jack commands, climbing on top of David's knees as he slams the door behind them. "The border of Gath," Jack commands to the driver, flinging some bills onto the front seat.

The palace drivers are used to the prince's quiet rendezvous', so the driver simply nods and pulls off.

"What's going on?" David asks as he rights himself, unable to move one leg because Jack is sitting on it.

"You betrayed the King," Jack says, turning to look behind them.

"I would never-"

"Michelle."

David's stomach bottoms out, and he wets his lips. "I was coming to explain myself, to reason with Silas."

"My father is beyond reason." Jack's eyes meet David's, chillingly intense as he says, "He wants your head."

David swallows and tips his head back, letting it thump off the window.

The silence stretches between them as they leave the city.

As they reach the wilderness, Jack asks, "So, how does it feel? To be betrayed by your lover?"

"Don't blame Michelle," David is quick to say. "She didn't know."

"And all the same, it is her word that condemns you."

"She didn't know," David says again.

"All the same," Jack echoes.

And then, so softly that David almost thought he imagined it, "I know that pain."

Half a mile from the border, they leave the car and start walking.

Mere feet away, still hidden in the trees, Jack begins to strip.

Ever the observant person, David asks, "What are you doing?"

"You can't walk into Gath wearing the Gilboa uniform."

Jack's clothes are too tight and smell all wrong, but somehow, it's a comfort.

"What will happen?" David asks.

"War, most likely. You're the ultimate weapon, the good luck charm, Gath won't hesitate to use you."

"I'll have to fight against you."

"Tell me what's new." Jack offers a small smile, but it's so fake that it offers little comfort to David.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you saving me?"

"Because it's wrong to be condemned for loving someone."

David pauses before looking to the ground. "I'm condemned because I lied about it."

"Like I said," Jack says, "it's wrong to be condemned for loving someone."

David, naïve, but having his moments, asks, "Who did you love?"

Jack's gaze stays on David but is seeing something a lifetime away, and it breaks David's heart. "Someone I shouldn't have." He sees David again, and smiles that little fake smile, so fake that David wishes Jack would cry instead. "Someone I should have, but someone my father couldn't accept."

David doesn't know what to say, so instead says, "What can I do to repay you?"

Jack grabs David's shoulder with one hand and uses the other to cup David's face, and says in a voice that reminds him of Silas, "One day, one of us will be King."

Jack pauses, realizes, then says, "No. One day, you will be King."

"No," David says.

"You will be King," Jack repeats.

"It's your throne, I don't want it-"

"It was never my throne," Jack says. "Always yours."

"No," David says.

Maybe he's crying. Maybe the grief for Joseph hiding in his stomach overcomes him. Maybe he's going crazy like his father. Maybe he just wants David to shut up.

It's not a kiss of lust, or love. It's not a kiss of romance or family or any other emotion Jack's felt before. It's simply a kiss from a Prince to a King.

Jack lets David hold him close, knowing that it's probably the last time they'll ever see each other.

"I can never repay you," David says, his voice muffled in Jack's shoulder. "Not for my life. Not for this."

"Remember that when you are King," Jack says, pushing David away, taking a few steps backwards towards Gilboa.

"Jack," David says, because all other words have failed him.

"In another life," Jack says, turning and leaving David to the wilderness.


End file.
